The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded the first sports betting certificates in the state Wednesday to two casinos, including one in the Philadelphia area.
Parx Casino in Bucks County and Hollywood Casino in Dauphin County were approved at Wednesday morning’s Gaming Control Board's hearing, setting the two on the path towards legal sports gambling.
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The certificates don’t take immediate effect, so keep your excitement in check for now, but both casinos expect to launch on-site sports betting later this fall according to PennLive.
If and when the casinos begin hosting legal gambling on games, Pennsylvania will become the sixth state in the country to to do so, including a trio of neighbors in New Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia.
And this is probably just the beginning of a legal gambling market explosion in Pennsylvania.
Last month, Parx and Harrah’s Casino in Chester were approved for Internet-based gambling, although the Gaming Control Board at the time did not establish a date for the beginning of the “interactive gaming” at the casinos.
According to PlayNJ, a privately-operated website dedicated to covering the state’s casinos, New Jersey’s legal online gambling industry generated $25.9 million in July.
The Gaming Control Board also slapped Northeast Philadelphia's SugarHouse Casino with $95,000 in fines on Wednesday for table games violations, including failure to properly address automated shuffler warnings at table games, and failure to comply with board-approved rules and guidelines for Spanish 21 blackjack.
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